It’s been said to lean not on your own understanding.
Yet, in life, that is all we do.
We trust that we know what’s best for us.
Our hearts.
Our souls.
Our lives.

We often dismiss the opinions of others,
Especially in times when we need to hear their brutal honesty the most.
For what good is an outsider’s perspective anyway?
They don’t know us like we know ourselves,
But, they most certainly think they do.

Only the glimpses we want them to see are seen.
They don’t know our scars.
They don’t know our fears.
They don’t know our deepest secrets.
They don’t know our biggest dreams.
They only know what we’ve allowed them to.
They only know the things that we’ve deemed safe to share with them.
They don’t need to know our real truths, likely because we’re not sure if we want to face those truths ourselves.
We’re not sure that we want to let others in.
It’s so easy to turn inward when faced with trials and tribulations in life.
Often times, it’s necessary because we feel so safe there.
It’s comforting and familiar.

Why, then, is it sometimes hard to reach outward?
What holds us back from being our true selves around others?
Are we still trying to figure ourselves out?
Are we too afraid to be brutally honest with ourselves?
Are we scared of what we may recognize when we take a good, hard look in the mirror?

The answer is simply: yes, to all of the above.
We don’t see the need to burden others with our troubles, so we tell ourselves that we can handle it.
We tell ourselves that it’s all going to be okay because we’re strong.
We bottle up our emotions and our struggles, until one day it all just becomes too much, and we realize that we can’t always handle it.
We realize that somehow, we’ve lost ourselves through it all.
We don’t fully recognize ourselves anymore, and we don’t know what to do.
We realize that if we can’t truly get to know ourselves, then we can’t exactly expect others to get to know us, either, can we?

We realize that we may actually need to rely on someone other than ourselves, and the thought of that can be slightly terrifying.
Maybe we’re not ready to face that.
Maybe we’re not ready to be that vulnerable because we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that it’ll make us seem weak.
Maybe we don’t want to experience familiar hurt again.
Maybe we just genuinely think we know what’s best for ourselves, but the fact of the matter is that we’re just too stubborn to admit that we could be wrong.
Vulnerability can be a beautiful thing because it allows us to be truly open and honest with others and ourselves.
It forces us to grow stronger, and it encourages us to truly get to know ourselves better.
It brings us closer to being our truest selves.

Because it’s when we let our walls come down, that we allow others to bring light into our lives.
We allow them to bring us hope.
We allow them to bring us inspiration,
While also knowing there’s that risk of being vulnerable.

Creativity can strike at any moment — make sure you’re prepared for it.

To help you do that, we created a functional backpack with the everyday artist in mind. Whether you’re going to school, embarking on a new adventure, or simply just exploring the world around you, take your passion with you.

We hope that this backpack becomes a home for the stories you love, the stories you’ve told and the stories you’ve yet to tell.